Articles for the ‘Property Managers’ Category

Fire Prevention Week is October 8th through October 14th! This year’s theme is “Every Second Counts: Plan Two Ways Out!” Every second does count when it comes to fire safety. As with any emergency, it is always good to have an emergency plan in place to help guide you and your loved ones to safety without hesitation and with minimal panic.

Here are a few key messages from the National Fire Protection Association regarding your escape plan:

Drawing a map to plan out your escape route is a very important part in your emergency preparedness plan. Be sure to mark at least two exits from each room and a path outside from each exit.

Schedule home drills at least twice a year. One at night as well as one during the day.

Try to remember to close doors behind you as you leave each room – this may help slow down the spread of smoke, heat and fire.

Last, but certainly not least, once you’ve made it safely outside, STAY OUTSIDE.

“Lloyd’s of London recently said in a report that a global cyber attack could result in as much as $121.4 billion in damages.”

In today’s world, there is no individual or organization that is safe from cyber risks. As technology evolves so does the threat. The effects of recent cyber-attacks have been raising awareness to the vulnerability companies and organizations face. Property Managers are particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

The Personally Identifiable Information that property managers store make them attractive targets for cyber criminals for data breach and other cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks are costly and are not typically covered under traditional insurance protections.

Being prepared and attentive is a necessity. Understanding cyber threats and where they come from is a good place to start.

Most of today’s cyber-attacks are the result of viruses, hackers, identity theft or extortion, or ransomware.

Protecting property managers from cyber-attacks requires more and more attention. Property management firms must have adequate safeguards when it comes to users and people, their administration processes, and technology weaknesses.

Some things property managers and property management organizations can do today to immediately help the threat are:

Back up their information on a regular basis

Make sure their Wi-Fi network is secured

Avoid unknown emails with links or attachments

Make sure their anti-virus software is always up to date

Make pass phrases difficult to copy

Secure all mobile devices

Remind staff to update software on their personal devices

Stay current with any system updates

Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid all the evolving challenges posed by cyber related risks. The best way to deal with this problem is to have the proper coverage in place. The cyber liability coverage offered by New Empire Group is designed to protect property managers from cyber and data breaches that can result in liability and financial loss for their organization.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have regarding cyber liability and for additional information on how your property managers can be properly protected.

Effective April of 2017, ISO has filed revisions to the Limitation of Coverage to Designated Premises, Project or Operations endorsement. Due to ever broadening court interpretation, the revision no longer includes the language “and operations necessary or incidental to those premises”. This change aims to remove ambiguity and to limit coverage to the described location, project or operation. There will be new editions of BP 04 12, CG 21 44, CU 21 11 and CX 21 10.

The result is that the grey area just got a lot smaller. Where the “necessary or incidental language” provided some implication of coverage for offsite operations, the new language requires the occurrence to take place on the premises scheduled or appurtenant grounds or structures. The revisions will have coverage consequences for Community Associations, Apartments and Property Managers whose policies often contain this endorsement, if the revisions are adopted by their carriers.

Liability arising from offsite meetings, business errands, new client interviews and other “necessary and incidental’ activities may need to be addressed for Community Associations, Apartments and Property Managers in the Real Estate niche.

Below are links to further treatment of the subject and a link to CG2144.

Insurance brokers are often asked for advice by Community Association Boards on managing the demands of transparency on the board. In their fiduciary capacity, boards must juggle statute and by-law requirements of transparency with the boards accountability to residents for effectiveness. Below are some points to consider and some articles from various sources that deal with the topic more extensively.

Most D&O policies do not provide coverage for breaking the law. Boards should be aware of the statutory requirements for transparency and the requirements of their by-laws. Association attorneys should be consulted to confirm that boards are operating within the parameters of each.

Access to information procedures should be clear. When can residents have access? Can residents make copies of association documents? Can they take pictures? How will information be made available?

How are privacy issues handled? Boards will have sensitive information that needs to be handled correctly. With electronic record keeping boards have a responsibility to secure personally identifiable information for residents. Data breach coverage should be up to date and understood.

How will the board deal with residents who abuse access? Attorneys and Community Association forums can provide guidance on strategies for dealing with these situations.

Below are links to some articles that deal with this subject from various sources more extensively:

The holidays are a great excuse for your property manager clients to engage with their tenants in a much more relaxed manner than speaking to them at board meetings or general trips to the office. Halloween can be considered the unofficial start to the holiday season! Here are a few things your property manager clients can do to celebrate Halloween with their tenants!

Suggest hosting a balcony decorating contest. There can be different categories such as ‘Scariest’, ‘Most Creative’, ‘Funniest’ or ‘Most Seasonal’ with different prizes for each. Competitions are a great way to create talking points with your property manager clients and their tenants.

Host a Halloween party. You can also have prizes for ‘Best Costume’, ‘Most Creative’, etc. Suggest each tenant bring a different Halloween-themed treat.

Host a ‘campfire’ story telling evening in the ‘party room’ or clubhouse.

Consider hosting a ‘haunted house’ for tenants.

Decorate the lobby with Halloween or seasonal décor.

Make sure the Halloween candy dish in the property management office is always refilled!

Tenant engagement and communication is always important for property managers. What better way to achieve this than focusing on the holidays as they are a common interest amongst almost everyone!

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